1. Field of the Invention
Dispensing apparatus useful in combination with a forage box or wagon which allows a lateral feed conveyer attached to the front of the forage wagon to be easily removed and replaced such that it may be used for lateral dispensing or may be removed to provide a dispensing opening adjacent the front portion of the wagon box to allow forage material to be dispensed directly therethrough to the area beneath the silage wagon for filling a trench silo.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various forage or silage wagons have long been utilized in the farming trade for purposes of collecting, transporting and dispensing forage-like material. The most common type of device utilizes a stowage wagon which is attached to a wheeled chasis for transport. Typically, the stowage wagon contains a plurality of beater elements adjacent a front opening in the wagon and conveying means in the bottom of the wagon for moving the forage material forward in the wagon toward the beaters. In this manner, the forage material is moved to the front of the forage box for dispensing purposes where it is subdivided by the beaters prior to dispensing.
Existing forage wagon devices are typically utilized to dispense the forage material laterally from the front portion of the stowage box where it is removed by means of a separate conveying device into an upright silo or the like. For this purpose, a lateral feed conveyor is provided adjacent the front opening of the stowage box to convey the forage material laterally after it has been dispensed through the beater elements.
In addition to dispensing forage material to a conveyer wherein it is moved into an upright silo, farmers have long experiened the need for alternatively dispensing forage material into a trench silo which is typically located below ground level. Traditionally, forage boxes or wagons have been utilized for this purposes by reversing the direction of movement of the conveyers located in the bottom of the stowage box. The forage material is then moved rearwardly through an opening in the back of the stowage box. The forage material then drops out of the rear of the stowage box into the trench silo along which the forage wagon is driven.
Existing apparatus which is utilized for dispensing forage material into a trench silo has various disadvantages. Typically to move the material into the trench area beneath the wagon, it must be dispensed through the back opening. The front opening is blocked by the fixedly mounted lateral feed conveyer. In order to move the forage material rearwardly in the stowage box, it is necessary for the conveyers on the bottom of the stowage box to be re-configured such that they move rearwardly instead of in their conventional forward direction. This task is typically accomplished by reversing the drive gears or belts which move the stowage box conveyers. Because beater devices are not provided adjacent the rear opening of the stowage box, but only at the front opening, when forage material is dispensed rearwardly through the rear opening the material is not subdivided by beater elements. As a result, because the forage material tends to coagulate into relatively large masses, it is dispensed into the trench silo as large heaps of material. It is then necessary after the trench has been filled to rake the material in the trench to remove the large accumulations of material and provide a relatively smooth top surface to the silage heap. This task may also be accomplished by the use of a tractor which would be driven along the silage trench. This latter procedure is disadvantageous in that the mounds of accumulated silage are generally so large that a very uneven and steep contour is provided in the silage trench which must be traversed by the tractor. This uneven surface may result in the tractor being tipped which in turn may result in human injury.